CORONA: Motorcyclist killed while lane-splitting is identified

A motorcyclist killed Monday, May 20 in a collision on Highway 91 in Corona was identified Tuesday as Quecannon Nihipali, 40, of Corona.

About 5:25 p.m., Nihipali was riding east on the line between two lanes in slow traffic just west of Main Street when he struck the left rear of a vehicle to his right, California Highway Patrol Officer Maurice Walker said.

Nihipali was knocked off the motorcycle and then was run over by a semitrailer truck that was traveling about 15 mph, Walker said.

Nihipali was pronounced dead at the scene. Three lanes were closed during the evening commute for the investigation.

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The practice of lane splitting is legal in California, the only state in the country to allow it.

“It has to be done safely — the emphasis on safely,” Walker said. “If you can’t do it safely, you can’t split.”

While the practice has always been legal, the CHP in January provided guidelines for the maneuver. They apply to city streets, highways and freeways.

Sgt. Mark Pope, statewide motorcycle safety coordinator for the CHP, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the key to safely lane splitting is speed.

“You should lane-split no faster than 10 mph over the speed of traffic around you, and we recommend (motorcyclists) not split at all if the traffic is faster than 30 mph,” Pope told the Chronicle.

Vehicle drivers also should be aware that motorcyclists might be passing close by.

A post on Nihipali’s Facebook page said he had entered a Discovery Channel contest in 2012 hoping to win a custom motorcycle. Nihipali wrote on the website Spiritual Networks that he had moved from Hawaii this year to start a new job.

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